Food Part Two: Meals

Last week, I wrote about food, and this week I am continuing with typical Tanzanian meals. 

 

   Rice and Cabbage (shredded and stir fried with shredded carrots)

 

Ugali (White corn meal boiled until solid) and Spinach (stir fried with onions, tomatoes and carrots)

 

Ugali is the national staple, sometimes made with Cassava flour, a tuber that grows locally.

 

Chapati (a thick tortilla) and beans (made with green peppers, onions, carrots)

 

Rice and Beans

 

Pilau (Beef or chicken cooked together with rice and spices like cinnamon, chilies, cumin, garlic, coriander, and cloves)  Usually the meat is cooked in pieces on the bone

 

Chips Mayai (An omelet made with Large cooked fries) served with salt and chili sauce.

 

Kuku na Chips (Chicken and Fries)

 Fish and Chips (Fries)

 Mishkaki (Meat kabob), chips and salad (shredded cabbage and carrots with vinegar)

 

Supu (Soup- can be made with out with out beef or chicken- potatoes, carrots, and corn

Plantans fried, or they can be cooked into a stew

 

 

Next week, Snacks!

 

 









 

Food!

         I'm going to try to write more about what it's like to live in Tanzania.

This time, I'm going to write about food. Food here is a little different.  Today I'll write about raw food, next time I'll show some of the typical Tanzanian meals.

 

First of all, water.  We can't drink it out of the tap.  And, although boiling water kills the bacteria, etc. that might be in it, it still has a very high fluoride content due to us being near a volcano.  Fluoride can be very harmful to teeth in extremely high amounts, especially for children's teeth that are still growing in.  Their teeth can grow in with a brown line across them.  So, we only drink bottled water that has gone through reverse osmosis- the only known way to remove fluoride from water.

Butter comes in a 1 lb. block wrapped in foil.  MMM, butter!

Tropical fruit, yum!  The bananas come in many different varieties here including small "finger" bananas, red, green (plantains), and huge ones.  I LOVE avocados, and mangos.

For those who don't know, I am gluten intolerant (I can't eat wheat), so I was excited to find rice flour, millet flour, corn flour and tapioca flour here.  Now, I can try some baking from scratch.

Eggs come in a "tray", which contains 30 eggs.  Trust me, we eat about 30 eggs a week.  They are a healthy snack when boiled, and we eat eggs most mornings for breakfast.

We buy UHT (ultra high temperature) milk, which can remain unrefrigerated until opened.  That's how milk comes here because not many people have refrigeration, and it lasts much longer.

 

Back in the swing of things

Our homeschool room

    Today is we have been in Arusha for exactly one month.  It is nice to be back again, in our routine, and in our old neighborhood.  The kids have started homeschool again, Katrina is in 6th grade, Heather 3rd grade, and Jonathan Pre-School.  Jonathan mostly paints, colors, plays with blocks and play dough.  So... WHAT DO I DO ALL DAY??  Good question.

   My typical day is: 
5:30 am- wake up, work out on Wii Fit
6:00am- Shower
6:30am- Bible reading and Prayer
7:00am- Kids get up, and we eat breakfast together
8:00am- We start school with Pledge of Allegiance, and practicing our memory verses.  I might read a Bible story.  I do Vision Therapy for Heather (she is slightly far-sighted).
8:30am-10am- Katrina and Heather do their first 3 subjects. I do vision therapy and Audiblox with Jonathan, then he plays.
10am- Tea break
10:15am- Gym class.  We go outside and play baseball, Frisbee, or jump rope.
10:45am-12pm- Katrina and Heather do three more subjects while Jonathan paints, learns a letter, or plays.
12pm- We eat lunch, usually national food such as rice and beans, or chapatis (thick tortillas) with stew, or cooked spinach with ugali (corn meal cooked until firm).
1pm- Katrina finish their last 2-3 subjects, and then they take turns playing on the computer or the Wii. They each have 1/2 hour of screen time per day.
2pm-4pm- Kids play, I spend time with the kids playing or going on a walk, I catch up on email, Facebook, etc.
5pm- I send the kids out to play.  Their friends are all arriving home on the bus. I start dinner.
6pm- Kids come in and we eat dinner together as a family.
7pm- Kids shower, and get ready for bed.  We might watch a Monk together.
8pm- Kids in bed, night night under the mosquito nets!
9-10pm- Catch up with Bill, watch a show together, and go to bed.
                 Repeat!

      Weekends are times to spend time with friends, watch movies and just hang out at home.
I hope my daily schedule didn't bore you!! 

Some of the friends from the neighborhood